These women are staff members of the Primary School in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone. The school was opened to offer supplementary education in and around Makeni. The school is staffed with twelve teachers, all of whom are females. (One teacher who was unable to make the original photo has been added in the lower left corner.)

They teach older pupils who are already in classes five and six from all schools in Makeni and beyond. Each school in town will bring their pupils this school on a fixed day of the week for lessons. Among the subjects they teach are: home management; child care; Family and Life Education (F.L.E.); agriculture; clothing and textiles; food and nutrition, and so on.

This is the second loan this school is borrowing from SMT (Kiva). With this loan, they will be able to do something meaningful. Gradually, they will repay it out of their meager monthly salaries. Teachers are among the lowest paid workers in Sierra Leone, and with such small salaries, they cannot do or buy anything great. With a loan, some of them can buy pieces of furniture; some will pay either their children’s school fees or pay for themselves to pursue further studies; others will use theirs to either start building a house or complete the building process; and others will use theirs in business to supplement their monthly salaries.

Hellen (second from right) is the head teacher at the school. She is forty-nine years of age, married with three children. Helen will use her loan to pay for her children’s school fees.